Waking Up
by AshArtist
Summary: Max disappears from her hometown. Three years later, Fang, Nudge, and Iggy are taken to the School, where they soon find out that a girl from their hometown, Max, was also taken and experimented on. They all escape (along with Angel, Gazzy, and a certain scientist) to France. They eventually enroll in school. Will they be safe there? Major FAX some NIGGY w/wings
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, ladies and gents, it's nice to finally meet you guys! I've been wanting to write fanfiction for a while now, so I was thinking: why not do a fanfic about the badass Maximum Ride? This is my first story, I've been writing since I was...in 5th grade? Maybe earlier, I don't know. But I have some experience in writing, I've just never published it like this! I hope you guys enjoy it and please R &R! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of Maximum Ride (if I did, it would've been made into a movie by now), all of it is owned by none other than Sir JP.**

I hated this smell. It burned the inside of my nose and made my head swim with a heavy intensity. It's only ever this strong when you're somewhere with doctors, IVs, and itchy hospital beds.

Or, in my case, scientists, sedatives, and steel examination tables.

I'd known I hadn't been here long. Perhaps a week or two. But that was long enough to realize that this place didn't give you lollipops after giving you a shot. No, the shot was most likely filled with pain killers and you're just hoping they kick in before the _real_ fun begins.

When I had first woken in here, the scientists had already taken everything. My clothes, my shoes, even the cheap earrings that Nudge forced me to wear the morning I was kidnapped (Yes, _kidnapped_. How else do you think they got me to stay in a high-security facility where they run tortuous tests on kids as young as 2? It definitely wasn't _willingly_ , I'll tell you that). They set me on an examination table and took their sweet time sticking a bunch of needles in and electrodes on me. Then, they proceeded to write in their notes, only glancing up with cold, calculating stares to take notice of my physical appearance and the machines that told them about my internal functions.

I don't remember much _after_ those long, grueling hours of examining, or at least, my brain didn't want me to. From the way my 'everything' aches, I know it was painful. _Very painful._

"Is it prepped for submersion?" As I came back to my nearly nonsensical senses (try saying that five times fast), I cracked open my eyes a centimeter of an inch and noticed the two scientists discussing my condition just to the right of my exam table.

"The anesthetic and all the numbing agents are just starting to take effect. The only thing it needs is to pass out and then we'll proceed to do the endotracheal intubation." I mentally rolled my eyes when the two scientists shook hands and smiled excitedly at each other.

 _Cheeky bastards. You think I don't know this is wrong? You think you can just make me pass out and 'proceed' to submerge me in that huge glass tank (which I now just noticed, thank you very much) for the 'evolution of humanity'? No, sirree. I'm not going down with a fight, and you are not sticking one of those big-ass tubes down my throat again (I know what endow-thingy-majig means)!_

When they finally unstrapped me from my exam table, one of the male scientists lifted me into his arms and started to carry me up…steps? His shoes were making a clanking noise from hitting against, what I can only describe as, metal, grated stairs. I took a slow, shallow breathe before trying to use my arms, legs, and/or whatever was attached to my back, to get away from the male scientist.

The thing (or, more like 'things') attached to my back seem to be the best contenders, but I was only hovering ten feet above the solid ground before realizing I was _hovering_ and fell to the floor in a heap of defeat, tears, and…

 _Feathers?_

I saw my hand shakily reach for a long, tawny feather and pinch the end of it. Dazed, I held the feather up to eye level and the things attached to my back involuntarily twitched.

I looked past the feather. Past the approaching footsteps of the scientists.

And looked at the ominous silhouette of my wings cast over the length of the floor and blacked out.


	2. Chapter 1: Our Lost Friend

**Hey guys! Sorry for not updating sooner, but here it is! Hope you guys enjoy and please review!**

 **Song of the Update: Don't Move – Phantogram (love this song! 3)**

*ooOOOoo*

 **Nudge's POV:**

Nudge was kneeling in the snow with a watery smile on her face.

"I can't believe it's already been three years…It seems like just yesterday we were both freshmen, having our first dates and making fun of Iggy for his stupid haircut," Nudge said and chuckled brokenly to herself. There was a long pause before she continued talking. "Remember when we tried shaving it off while he was sleeping over one time? Yeah? He woke up just as we were finishing the sides and we burst into laughter when…he…sat up…"

Nudge bent over her best friend's grave, letting the tears gather up in her eyes and then watched them as they fall onto the snow-covered ground. Sniffing, she tried to continue.

"We would've had so much fun during our senior trip, too. We…we went to the mountains and hiked and went skiing and ate a bunch of junk food…you would've had a ball…" Her voice came out in fragments. She struggled to come out of her sadness and swiped at the tears that spilled down her chocolate, rosy cheeks. "…Max…we could've had so much fun…I miss you so much, Max…when you disappeared, no one was the same…Please, come back, Max… _please_ …"

She sat there, praying and staring at the gray tombstone, until her sobs calmed down to a hiccup that racked her body every once in a while. Max had been gone for three years. No one knew where she went. And the investigators closed the case one year after searching ( _which was no long enough_ , she thought), pronouncing her dead when they had found a body floating in the Colorado River that was in close resemblance to Max.

Though Nudge wasn't too sure it was her that they found in the River. She still had this weird feeling Max was still out there, being her violent and sarcastic self.

Nudge tugged her black coat closer to her body, shivering in the November cold, and stood up in front of Max's grave. It was time for her to go. Nudge promised herself she'd come back next month, even if it was during a blizzard, she'd come and mourn for her friend.

She and Max and Iggy had grown up together; they went to the same school, lived in the same neighborhood, and played at the same park every day with each other when they were little. They were always in each other's houses, eating each other's food (especially Max), their families always spent holidays together, and they went on trips together _every_ summer. Although they were all in different sports (Nudge in dancing, Iggy in rock climbing, and Max in kickboxing), they went to each other's competitions and cheered them on. They were practically siblings.

She wasn't going to give up on her friend – no, _sister_ – just because of the time that's passed. No matter what anyone says, Nudge will always come back to see Max and remember the years of memories they had together.

After she replaced the wilted white roses on Max's grave with new, bright red ones, Nudge walked back to the path leading to the cemetery's entrance and gazed at the rows and rows of tombstones and the occasional tree.

But Nudge faltered a step when she spotted a tall man in a black suit. He was staring right at her.

 _Why is he staring at me? I didn't see him when I first walked in…,_ Nudge thought uncertainly.

She was just about to call out to him when the man reached a hand into his jacket and pulled out a black object. Before Nudge knew what she was doing, the wilted white roses were dropped and the rhythmic sound of her footsteps matched the beat of her quickening pulse. She didn't stop when she got to the end of the path. She didn't stop when she came to the front entrance of the cemetery. The only time she even dared to slow down her pace enough to glance behind her was the exact time when someone decided to be in her path.

 _Omg, this is it. This is the end, I'm never going to graduate. I'm never going to see my friends again. I'm going to die here and then probably be buried in the middle of the woods and no one will ever find my body and I will never become a dancer or an artist or a photographer or an actress or a director or a successful business woman who also stars in her own talk show and take trips to Paris every weekend and and –_

"Nudge? Are you okay?" The familiar voice of her best friend, Iggy, stopped any and all thoughts she was having of dying – well, except for dying of embarrassment. She practically knocked him over when he managed to restrain her from running all the way to the nearest shoreline (California).

"Iggy?" She squeaked. Iggy laughed and released her.

"The one and only, at your service, _mademoiselle_." Nudge smacked his arm and he light-heartedly chuckled. "Why were you running? Did your Nudgey-senses see me coming?"

"No! There was a man…with a taser..."

"With a taser?" Iggy said with wide eyes.

"I was visiting Max and he was there…"

"And you ran when you saw him pull it out." Nudge just nodded. "Alright, then we should get out of here. We don't know how far he was behind you. Let's go." Iggy wrapped a protective arm around Nudge and led her to his car.

"Wait, my bike – " Iggy was already ahead of her, lifting up her bike into the bed of his truck. Nudge took a moment to admire her best friend's muscular forearms that peaked out from the pushed up sleeves of his blue sweater. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't wearing a coat in the dead of Colorado winter. He rarely got cold; he was practically his own personal furnace.

"Hey, Nugget. You ready?" At Iggy's words, Nudge jumped and turned to open the door to hide the obvious blush covering her entire face.

"Don't call me that."

"What – _Nugget_?" We both got into his car.

"Yeah."

"NUGGET!"

"IGGY! I SWEAR ON MY ENTIRE WARDROBE, I WILL KILL YOU!" She yelled at him as he pulled out into the street and headed to the school.

"Psh, your threats are nothing compared to…" His words died in his throat.

"Max's?" Iggy nodded, chuckling as he continued to tease her. But, Nudge could still see his eyes linger around the sad thought of their missing friend. Iggy and Nudge had spent months mourning over Max, comforting each other in a way no one else could. They had both lost one of their best friends.

"We're here, Nugget." Nudge looked begrudgingly out her window and saw the gold and black sign that read _'Ford Valley High School' ._ "Do you want me to carry you to the front doors? You might still be a little tired from running." Iggy grinned and, as much as she wanted to take that offer with open arms, Nudge stuck her tongue out at him and exited the car by herself.

*ooOOOoo*

 **R &R please! Love y'all!**


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